Non-Disappointment of 2011 Season so Far – Wieters’ Defense

With the Orioles having lost 14 of their last 17 games and falling to 14-19 in thudding to the bottom of the American League East after a great 6-1 start, and with the team now collectively not being able to hit their way out of a wet paper bag, there is plenty to complain about.

Plenty of disappointments up and down the roster through the season’s first five weeks.

But I’m not going to go the negative route today.

No, instead I’m choosing to try to cheer myself up by focusing on one of the (very) few bright spots so far this year.

I’m speaking, of course, of the defensive play of catcher Matt Wieters. While his bat is still nowhere near the “Mauer with power,” that we were promised (though it looks to have improved), his glove is living up to every bit of the hype.

Beyond the Box Score released their first defensive rankings of 2011 today, and the O’s backstop dominates every category.

Overall leaders:Matt Wieters may not be setting the world on fire with his bat (although he’s above average in this run environment, very good for a catcher), he’s been exclennent defensively, which is, of course, mostly ignored, since a guy has to be old and an awful hitter before his defense is praised. He’s currently the overall leader at +5.7 runs.

Caught Stealing Leaders and Trailers: As you might expect, this is the main difference between catchers at this point, with Wieters (his arm is Deadly Accurate!) and Hernandez leading the way so far.

Passed Balls and Wild PItches Leaders and Trailers: Wieters leads the way here as well at +2.2 runs,

Wieters is a pleasure to watch behind the plate.

Hey, it’s something.

Posted by on Tuesday, May 10, 2011 at 11:34 am Filed under Uncategorized · Tagged with

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